I was in shock. We had discussed the possibility of marriage, but I hadno idea that she was ready to propose... although, I figured that whenthe time ...ame, she'd be the one to ask for my hand. It was only thetiming that surprised me, both by the calendar and by the clock."Margret, dear, it's three in the morning." I know... I'm sorry, sweetie. I tried to wait until later this morning,but I've been staring a hole in the ceiling for the past three hours,and my heart keeps beating faster just. The pillow and her head were now completely in his lap. As the rest of her body gained a bit of consciousness, she realized that one of his hands was wrapped in her hair. The other one rested on the side of her body. She shifted her head slightly to look up at him. His head had lolled forward, and a small snore was coming from his lips. She smiled and held down a laugh as the snoring got progressively louder. Sleep wasn’t done with her. She could feel her body beginning to give out on her. “I’m sure it will be fine.”She was waiting for us in the lobby of the club with John Gilbert.“Tony!” Bree exclaimed as she came up to give me a hug and a modest—for Bree—kiss on the cheek. “John says you’ve been working out for the past three weeks and I didn’t even know you were back in town. You should have called me.”“Well, a lot has been happening. We didn’t even really start practicing until more than a week after we got back.”“We?”“Yeah. Lissa and Melody and I all live together now,” I. His pink lips stand out in his tanned face, and I watch how they expose white teeth in neat rows when he smiles. He places his hand against my back as we cross the busy street and I can feel the warmth through my thin scrubs against the muscles in my back. We climb the stairs against the flow of people making their way in for the start of the day, and his hand drops away. Our feet are heavy as we climb, not the same hurried tap as we fled the hospital; this is the slow tread of exhaustion. We.